For my Capstone, I designed and built a prototype for an arm-wrestling arcade machine that recreates the fun and competitive energy of real arm wrestling—without the injury risk. After discovering a talent for arm wrestling through my background in powerlifting, I wanted to make the sport more accessible and safer, especially given how often injuries occur at higher levels. Inspired by arcade boxing machines, I began working on a mechanical and digital system that mimics the resistance and scoring of arm wrestling. I went through many stages—from sketching and brainstorming concepts in my notebook, to CAD modeling in Fusion 360, to fabricating custom parts using CNCs and manual mills in our shop. Along the way, I learned how to adjust when prototypes failed, iterate more efficiently, and balance simplicity with functionality. I also deepened my understanding of parametric modeling and mechanical advantage (especially the hard way—after buying springs that didn’t apply enough force). Despite the challenges, I’m proud of creating something original, technically sound, and fun. It was rewarding to give back to SLA’s engineering community by mentoring younger students as I worked. Most of all, this project reminded me of how ideas evolve through real-world constraints, and how problem-solving never stops—especially when you’re building something that hasn’t quite been built before.

For my Capstone, I created GEMSTONE (Girls in Engineering, Math, Science, and Technology: Opportunities, Networking, Empowerment), a digital resource hub designed to support high school girls interested in STEM. It includes monthly exploration worksheets, a curated database of over 50 extracurricular opportunities, and a series of 40 video interviews with women in STEM across a range of advanced fields. GEMSTONE is going to be integrated into 11 Philadelphia public schools and used in over 80 STEM classrooms in September.

I created GEMSTONE because as a girl who has spent four years in STEM classes, there have been many moments where I didn’t know where to start or who to turn to, and that made everything, from signing up for programs to picturing a future in STEM, feel harder than it needed to be. GEMSTONE is meant to change that: It gives girls a way in, and it gives them a head start.

Over 80 hours went into research, expert interviews, opportunity vetting, content design, and school integration. I collaborated with educators and professionals to make sure the materials were high-quality and useful. One of the most powerful parts of this project has been building a network between young girls and women already working in STEM—something that can be difficult to access in public school settings.

GEMSTONE is a resource I wish I had, and now it’s here for others. I’m proud that I adovcated for this project and believed in my idea so that it could be made an affordable, district wide resource.

For my capstone project I tried to learn more about and get involved with bike infrastructure in Philadelphia. This capstone project combined my interest in transportation systems in cities with my strong passion for cycling. I wanted to combine these and do something that could have a positive and real impact on the cycling community, as well as help me learn more about my favorite form of transportation and its infrastructure. My final project ended up being a site called a Story map, which displays multiple different maps that I made online using a software called ArcGIS. These maps show a map of Philadelphia, where I added annotations, a map of current initiatives by a local cycling advocacy organization called Philly Bike Action, and current city projects found online. This offers an interactive and easy way to find out more about bike infrastructure projects and helps people to figure out how they can get involved. The final aspect of this project is a paper that synthesizes all of the research and interviews I did around bike lanes and specifically the process for building them in Philadelphia. I link this paper at the bottom of my site to make it easily accessible for anyone interested in learning more about biking in Philadelphia and around the world.

Link to StoryMap I made including maps: https://storymaps.arcgis.com/stories/020bafe0e9dc4473b63b1b1f4a51c1c4 Screenshots from it displayed below: